-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- You might not have wanted to bet on Billy Joel in the summer of 1977 .

If `` The Stranger '' had n't been a success , Billy Joel suspects he would have been dropped from his label .

For a guy whose career had started out promisingly , he 'd undergone more setbacks than a wild-armed pitcher . In his teen years he was a session pianist on Shadow Morton-produced records -LRB- including , allegedly , the Shangri-Las ' `` Leader of the Pack '' -RRB- , but failed with his groups , including a heavy-metal duo .

He followed his first Top 40 hit , `` Piano Man , '' with a bitter second one , `` The Entertainer '' -LRB- in which he sang , `` If I go cold/I wo n't get sold/I 'll get put in the back/In the discount rack/Like another can of beans , '' over an incongruous synthesizer track -RRB- . He was considered a singer-songwriter with great potential but bickered with his label and his producers .

Making 1976 's `` Turnstiles , '' he fired producer James William Guercio -- a consistent hitmaker with Chicago -- and took the helm himself , with uneven results .

And yet he still had something , remembered Phil Ramone , who was to produce Joel 's 1977 breakthrough , `` The Stranger . ''

At a 1976 Columbia Records convention in Toronto , Joel opened a musical showcase and `` ripped the crowd up , '' Ramone recalls in a phone interview from Connecticut . `` My friends said , ` Watch this guy . ' '' Watch Joel perform `` Piano Man '' ''

And then there was a series of concerts at New York 's Carnegie Hall in early June 1977 , featured on the new anniversary edition of `` The Stranger '' -LRB- Columbia/Legacy -RRB- , out Tuesday . -LRB- A special edition of the release also includes a DVD of other Joel performances . -RRB- Known then , as now , as an exciting live performer , Joel and his band gave a series of performances that impressed Ramone -- though , he noted , the recorded versions paled in comparison .

`` I watched what he had done and tracked his past records , '' he says . `` Everything I 'd seen had n't been captured on record . ''

`` The Stranger '' turned out differently .

Joel came through with a top-notch set of songs , and four of them -- `` Just the Way You Are , '' `` Movin ' Out , '' `` She 's Always a Woman '' and `` Only the Good Die Young '' -- became hits . `` The Stranger '' established Joel as a best-selling artist -- reportedly , upon release , it was the biggest-selling Columbia album in history -- and propelled him to his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame career . Watch Joel perform `` Only the Good Die Young '' in Russia ''

At the time , he just wanted to make a consistent record .

`` I do n't recall feeling this was going to be the breakthrough . We were just happy with the album we were making at the time , '' Joel says in the press materials for the `` Stranger '' re-release . -LRB- Joel was n't available for an interview with CNN . -RRB-

He acknowledges , though , that `` The Stranger '' could have been his last stand .

`` I did n't know this at the time , but had it not been a successful album , the label probably would have dropped me . 'Cause you have to remember , this was my fifth album without having had a major hit , '' he says .

Joel interviewed several producers , Ramone recalls , including the Beatles ' George Martin . Ramone , known for his graceful touch in the studio , was coming off Paul Simon 's `` Still Crazy After All These Years '' and the Barbra Streisand `` A Star Is Born '' soundtrack . He and Joel hit it off at `` an Italian lunch that took forever , '' Ramone says , and in July went into the studio to record . The album was recorded in three weeks -- very quickly , says Ramone .

The producer remembers the sessions as full of humor , with his most difficult task reining in the members of Joel 's band . It was an accident that Ramone ended up included in the group portrait on the album 's back cover , dressed in New York Yankee regalia -- `` I only posed because I thought , ` They 'll never use this , ' '' he says .

`` The role I played was kind of like the captain of the team , '' he says . `` I doled out punishments -- it was a crazy , lunatic group . There were times I 'd throw out -LSB- ideas -RSB- and they 'd say , ` No way . ' They all had great opinions . ''

Then there was Joel , a forceful singer who , Ramone observes , is also `` extremely vulnerable . '' The singer had a tendency to hide behind his song 's characters ; Ramone urged him to put more of himself into the vocals in `` The Stranger , '' and continued the advice for succeeding albums .

`` I would say , ` When is Billy Joel going to show up ? ' '' Ramone says . `` You have to adapt -LSB- the character -RSB- to you . ''

Running through the album 's tracks more than 30 years later , Ramone says there 's always something he 'd like to change , but in general he 's very satisfied with the record , particularly the songs `` Scenes from an Italian Restaurant , '' `` The Stranger '' and `` Just the Way You Are . ''

The latter , he notes , was supposed to have been spiked -- Joel , who wrote it for his then wife , thought it was too syrupy . -LRB- `` A chick song , '' he 's called it . -RRB- Moreover , Ramone 's suggestions for the song met with resistance : Drummer Liberty DeVitto rebelled against the Brazilian baion beat , and the band was unhappy when Ramone tapped jazzman Phil Woods to play the alto sax solo .

But the song proved to be the album 's big hit .

`` They put out ` Movin ' Out ' -LSB- as the first single -RSB- , and it -LSB- failed -RSB- . And then out of nowhere came ` Just the Way You Are , ' '' Ramone says . The song got a big boost when Joel appeared as the musical guest on `` Saturday Night Live '' in February 1978 and eventually won Grammys for song and record of the year .

`` The Stranger '' was the beginning of a fruitful run for Joel and Ramone . The pair made seven more albums together , including the No. 1 records `` 52nd Street '' and `` Glass Houses , '' and still maintain a warm relationship , says Ramone .

Joel , who will play the final two concerts at New York 's soon-to-be-closed Shea Stadium July 16 and 18 , has long since put the questions of `` potential '' to rest .

`` I did n't necessarily set out to be a big worldwide , international super rock star kind of guy . I set out to make a living as a musician , and this is the way it happened , '' he said .

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Billy Joel was at a career crossroads in 1977

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`` The Stranger , '' his breakthrough album , came together quickly , says producer

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Album now out in 30th-anniversary edition ; propelled Joel to success